Courtney advances to quarterfinals to lead UVA at NCAA Championships

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Brian Courtney picked up a pair of wins to advance to the quarterfinals at the NCAA Championships and lead the Virginia wrestling team on day one of action Thursday at Little Caesar’s Arena.

He is one of four Virginia wrestlers still alive in the tournament heading into day two of competition on Friday at 11 a.m.

Courtney will be joined by Jake Keating (157), Justin McCoy (165) and Jay Aiello (197) in action on Friday. Aiello, Keating and McCoy will all be in action in the consolation bracket still in the hunt to secure a spot on the podium and a chance to lock up All-America honors.

Courtney advanced to the quarterfinals with a pair of wins over top-10 seeds. He defeated eighth-seeded RayVon Foley of Michigan State in the opening round with a 4-2 decision before rallying to take an 8-7 decision over ninth-seeded Michael Colaiocco of Penn in the second round. The Cavalier wrestler used a takedown and back points in both matches to vault himself into the lead and take the victory.

He will face top-seeded and reigning NCAA champion Roman Bravo-Young of Penn State in his quarterfinal match.

Aiello, Keating and McCoy all won their opening-round matches on Thursday. Aiello took a 5-3 decision in overtime from Arizona State’s Kordell Norfleet. McCoy took a 6-1 decision over Columbia’s Joshua Ogunsanya while Keating took a 6-2 decision over Purdue’s Kendall Coleman.

The trio all dropped matches to wrestlers seeded among the top three nationally in the second round with Aiello dropping a tight contest to the top seed from Penn State, while Keating and McCoy each fell to the third-seeded wrestler in their weight class.

Patrick McCormick (125), Dylan Cedeno (141), Michael Battista (184) and Quinn Miller (285) also competed for the Cavaliers, but had their time at the NCAA Championships end in the evening session on Thursday.

NOTES ON THE DAY

• This marks the fifth straight NCAA Championship that the Hoos have had at least one quarterfinalist.
• Brian Courtney’s upset of eight-seeded and ranked RayVon Foley of Michigan State is his second win over a top-10 opponent this season and the highest-ranked victory of his career.
• The four wrestlers advancing to day two of competition at the NCAA Championships is the most for Virginia since the 2015 NCAA Championships when quarterfinalist George DiCamillo led four Hoos into day two in St. Louis.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

125: No. 32 seed Patrick McCormick

Pigtail: No. 33 seed Logan Ashton (Stanford) dec. McCormick, 2-0

Conso. Pigtail: No. 30 seed Jace Koelzer (N. Colorado) dec. McCormick, 1-0

133: No. 25 seed Brian Courtney

R32: Courtney dec. No. 8 seed Rayvon Foley (Michigan State), 4-2

R16: Courtney dec. No. 9 seed Michael Colaiocco (Penn), 8-7

QF: Courtney vs. No. 1 seed Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State)*

*Match coming on Friday morning

141: No. 33 seed Dylan Cedeno

Pigtail: No. 32 seed Josh Mason (Bloomsburg) pinned Cedeno, 2:11

Conso. Pigtail: No. 30 seed Jacob Butler (Oklahoma) major dec. Cedeno, 9-0

157: No. 14 seed Jake Keating

R32: Keating dec. No. 19 seed Kendall Coleman (Purdue), 6-2

R16: No. 3 seed Jacori Teemer pinned Keating, 2:43

Conso. R16-2: Keating vs. No. 20 seed Elijah Cleary (Pitt) *

*Match coming on Friday morning

165: No. 19 seed Justin McCoy

R32: McCoy dec. No. 14 seed Joshua Ogunsanya (Columbia), 6-1

R16: No. 3 seed Alex Marinelli (Iowa) dec. McCoy, 8-2

Conso. R16-2: McCoy vs. No. 20 seed William Formato (App. State)*

*Match coming on Friday morning

184: No. 25 seed Michael Battista

R32: No. 8 seed Marcus Coleman (Iowa State) major dec. Battista, 10-2

Conso. R16-1: No. 24 seed Caleb Hopkins (Campbell) pinned Battista, 1:42

197: No. 17 seed Jay Aiello

R32: Aiello dec. No. 16 seed Kordell Norfleet (Arizona State), 5-3 (sv-1)

R16: No. 1 seed Max Dean (Penn State) dec. Aiello, 4-2

Conso. R16-2: Aiello vs. No. 15 seed Isaac Trumble (NC State)*

*Match coming on Friday morning

285: No. 23 seed Quinn Miller

R32: No. 10 seed Nathan Traxler (Virginia Tech) dec. Miller, 6-4 (sv-1)

Conso. R16-1: No. 26 seed Ben Goldin (Penn) dec. Miller, 7-5 (sv-1)